Freebie and the Bean

Freebie and the Bean follows the title detectives (James Caan’s Freebie and Alan Arkin’s Bean) as they attempt to wrap up a long investigation involving a local crime boss (Jack Kruschen’s Red Meyers), with their ongoing efforts at closing the case paving the way for a narrative rife with larger-than-life action sequences and interludes. It’s clear immediately that filmmaker Richard Rush isn’t looking to deliver a gritty, authentic police drama, as Freebie and the Bean boasts a pervasively irreverent sensibility that’s reflected most keenly in the behavior of its two protagonists – with the loopy figures spending the majority of the picture’s drawn-out running time arguing, squabbling, and fighting. There’s little doubt that such shenanigans become exhausting long before the movie progresses into its lackadaisical midsection, and it does become more and more difficult not to wish Rush had included just a handful of quieter, more down-to-earth sequences. Freebie and the Bean‘s failure is especially disappointing given its proliferation of better-than-expected elements (eg Caan and Arkin are actually quite good here and their characters certainly possess plenty of chemistry together), and it’s apparent, too, that Rush does a nice job of infusing the film’s many action-oriented moments with an eye-poppingly propulsive sensibility (eg a gunfight aboard two separate elevators segues into an outrageous motorcycle pursuit and chaotic foot chase) – which ultimately does confirm the movie’s place as a hopelessly erratic endeavor that’s probably just too off-the-wall for its own good.

** out of ****